The space race inspired a feeling that anything was possible: you just had to imagine something, and there it was. In the 1960s culture was energised by a boundless optimism and faith in technology, as artists, writers, filmmakers and designers came up with competing visions of the future. Pierre Cardin, a French designer born in 1922, was one of these seers. A new exhibition on at the Brooklyn Museum – “Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion” – captures his prescient attempts to push the limits of design, fashion and retail.

It focuses on Cardin’s many firsts: he was the first fashion designer to visit NASA, and the first Western designer to see the potential of China as a market – with millions of potential consumers. He was also the first designer to license his name and initials, giving him freedom to focus on other projects, like buying the Paris restaurant Maxim’s and turning it into a global brand. Read More